Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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Death’s Marathon
(1913)
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This short drama, directed by D.W. Griffith, stars Blanche Sweet and Henry B. Walthall, with Walter Miller, Lionel Barrymore, Kate Bruce and Robert Harron.
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 Film Preservation Associates
2002 DVD edition
D.W. Griffith: Years of Discovery 1908-1914 (1908-1914), black & white, 334 minutes total, not rated, including Death’s Marathon (1913), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated.
Film Preservation Associates, distributed by Image Entertainment, ID1270DSDVD, UPC 0-14381-12702-7.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (two DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 4.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); four-page insert booklet; double-wide two-disc DVD keepcase; $39.99.
Release date: 10 September 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition, originally prepared for laserdisc release in 1996 by producer David Shepard, has been mastered from a very-good 35mm print with dust, speckling, emulsion scrapes, frame jitters, and other print flaws.
The film is accompanied by a music score arranged, composed and conducted by Robert Israel with a small ensemble.
Supplementary material includes optional audio commentary by Griffith scholar Russell Merritt; and an insert booklet with notes on the films by Merritt.
Visually, the home video editions noted on this page are visually nearly identical, possibly all being sourced from the same analog video transfer. We slightly recommend this edition over the others for the additional feature of Merritt’s audio commentary.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .
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 Kino on Video
2002 DVD edition
Griffith Masterworks: Biograph Shorts (1908-1914), black & white, 362 minutes total, not rated, including Death’s Marathon (1913), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K268, UPC 7-38329-02682-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc (two DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 4.2 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); two-page insert card; double-wide two-disc DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 10 December 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.
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This DVD edition has been mastered from an archival 35mm print with some dust, speckling, emulsion scrapes, frame jitters, and other print flaws.
The film is accompanied by a music score arranged, composed and conducted by Robert Israel with a small ensemble.
Which set collectors will want to acquire will purely depend on which films they want to own. We own both sets as the video transfer qualities are similar if not identical.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This
Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is also available directly from . . .
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 Kino on Video
2002 DVD edition
Griffith Masterworks (1908-1921), color-toned black & white and black & white, 986 minutes total, not rated, including Death’s Marathon (1913), color-toned black & white, 150 minutes, not rated.
Kino International,
no catalog number, UPC 7-38329-02702-5.
Seven single-sided, single-layered and dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 4.2 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; no chapter stops (within the film); four standard DVD keepcases and one double-wide two-disc DVD keepcase in cardboard slipcase; $99.95.
Release date: 10 December 2002.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 6 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.
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This DVD boxset contains the Kino International 2002 edition noted above.
The film is accompanied by a music score arranged, composed and conducted by Robert Israel with a small ensemble.
An obvious attraction of this boxset is the additional content in the form of supplemental materials, and the compilation of early Griffith Biograph short films.
A collector’s preference for one home video edition over another will be driven by an evaluation of price, availability and the other films available in each collection.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD boxset from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD boxset from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD boxset has been discontinued
and is . . .
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Other silent era D.W. GRIFFITH films available on home video.
Other silent era BLANCHE SWEET films available on home video.
Other SHORT DRAMA FILMS of the silent era available on home video.
Other silent film music scores by ROBERT ISRAEL available on home video.
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Lillian Gish filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List
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